Thursday, February 28, 2013

Hi readers and writers,
This is the last day for this year's alphabetaphilia so if you're still enthused about alliteration, feel free to go back to any letter you'd like and add a sentence using 5 words starting with that letter on Feb 27 and Feb 28 or any other day you visit the blog.

Here's a zebra, Equus quagga to scientists,a favorite photo from Creative Commons, to inspire you today to find 5 z-words, use in a sentence, and post in comments. The coat of the zebra has to be one of the wonders of the world. If you watch a herd gallop by in real life or in TV, the optical movement is overpowering.

Here's a photo from Creative Commons of yarrow plant to inspire you to find five y-words, use them in a sentence, and post it on comments below. Only one more day of Alphabetaphilia this year (although you can always go back and fill in for your favorite letter(s).

Sunday, February 24, 2013

For February 23, we have V for our letter. Here's a photo from Creative Commons, with thanks, of vanilla beans. I was over 30 years old before I realized my favorite flavor, vanilla, was a product of beans! Thank goodness, someone else had discovered that long since and shared it with the world. Let vanilla inspire you to some aromatic and tasty thoughts using 5 words starting with V today, use them in a sentence, and post in comments.

Friday, February 22, 2013

If you have Rihanna's hit song, "Umbrella" stuck in your brain, feast your eyes on this display of umbrellas in Wuhan, China to give it a new direction. Then, write five U-words and use them in an unusual sentence, post in comments.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Today's inspiring image from Creative Commons is the giant Tortoise, an image that invokes the idea of the Galapagos and the birth of evolution in Charles Darwin's young mind. So let your mind give birth to five words starting with T, use in a sentence, and post in comments!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Today's alliteration challenge on Alphabetaphilia is inspired by the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado: S-words, shown with thanks to Creative Commons. So let's write with these sand dunes as our stimulus. I have walked there twice, both times in awe of sand dunes so far from any ocean. The high snow-caps in the background most of the year emphasize how far away from sea gull country you are, while the grains of sand whisper to your feet of the sea.

Find five words starting with sibilant S, use them in a startling sentence, post in comments.

Let this raccoon from Creative Commons inspire you to find five words beginning with R and use them in a sentence, post it in comments. I'm sorry to be a little late. Still having computer issues.

What do you know about raccoons? I like them a lot, with their little burglar masks. In spite of human warping of the landscape, they've learned to deal, to make a living anyway, not to be intimidated. But then, I haven't come home to find them playing in my flour all over the kitchen as one friend has, or found them eating the last fish out of the fishpond, as another one did. What's your thought?

Monday, February 18, 2013

For February 18, we have a quill to inspire us to write an alliterative sentence with five quality Q words and post it on the comments. Have you ever tried to use a quill to write? I haven't, but I have used one to play an autoharp. It's a challenge. Goose feathers are made for the convenience of geese, not people, that's for sure!

In any case, enjoy writing a sentence with five Q words today, and please post it under comments.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Here's an image of a pagoda to inspire us to write an alliterative sentence with five words beginning with P for today. This pagoda has a sad history that we heard while visiting Wu Cheng village in China. A general was far away from his wife conducting battles. As a joke, he sent word that he had been killed. She jumped off the pagoda to her death. He was said to be shocked and saddened when he came to Wu Cheng and found that his beloved wife was dead.

Do select five words beginning with P, use them in one praiseworthy sentence, and post it in comments today.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

To inspire us to find O words today, here is the constellation Orion, one of my favorites and one of the easiest to find in the night sky, even in Los Angeles where albedo is ferocious and the sky is barely dark at all.

Today, think of five words staring with O in honor of Orion, use them in a sentence, post in comments. Voila!

When I was a kid running wild in the woods of North Carolina, we ran into newts from time to time. They are often brightly colored to warn off the predators because of their toxic skin, as this one shown above courtesy of Wikipedia Commons is.

Let the newt inspire you to find five words beginning with n and use them in a sentence for today, posting in Comments.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Perhaps L is for Late today. I had some issues with getting my computer to admit it was plugged in, but now it seems okay. Leaves are so cool. Now that I live in So Cal, autumn leaves are few and far between, but I still love the shapes of trees whose leaves have left them behind, and enjoy the misty green tips of those trees thinking about producing new leaves in spring. A magic moment I recall from fifth grade, when I had to begin wearing glasses, was seeing that all those tree-blobs were made up of wonderful, twinkling, individually mobile leaves on the way home from the optician's office.

So let leaves inspire you to choose five words beginning with L, use them in a sentence, and post in comments.

Do you love mountains? I do, so we get a picture of them for Valentine's Day this year. These mountains run along North of the 10 or San Bernardino Freeway in Los Angeles, on the East side, calling the skiers and the lovers of pure, clear air to come up and visit.

For today, let the mountains inspire you to find five words starting with M and use them in one marvelous sentence, post it on comments.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Today is February 12, the day for K alliteration on Alphabetaphilia. I picked an image of Krakatoa, the volcano from 1883, from Wikipedia Commons (thanks to them!) to inspire us today.

I saw "Krakatoa, East of Java" at a drive in theatre many years ago, and it scared the bejabbers out of me. The only one that scared me more, out of all the films my family went to see in that drive in, was "War of the Worlds." The rising of a wave, even a pretty small wave, made me worry that it might just keep rising on and on, tower into a tsunami, and crash over the world as I knew it. And a low, low tide was sure to be followed by a giant wave, I thought, so at Myrtle Beach, I tried to stay inside the beach house at low tide.

Enjoy playing with K-words today. Find five, use in a sentence, capitalized or not all fine, and post the words and sentence on the comments. A short delay for me to moderate comments and your fabulous sentence will shine out on the world. Go!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Here's a NASA photo of the huge planet Jupiter, showing its giant red spot, a storm that has gone on for years and years, circling the planet repeatedly, but not slowing or stopping. Awesome, if it were not a burned out hulk of a word, would be a good descriptor for Jupiter. And do you see the moon shadow? Love those words, moon shadow.

For February 11, be inspired by Jupiter to think of five words starting with J, use them in one jovian sentence or jocular sentence or whatever, and post in comments. Enjoy the sentences others have produced. Tell your friends, here's a fast, fun internet escape from work, including a workout for your brain's alliteration circuits.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

For Sunday, February 10, our letter for alliteration fun is "I." So here is a photo of my favorite insect, the lightning bug or firefly, first dark, then aglow. On summer evenings, these bugs flashed their signals to each other along the edge of the woods behind our house, and I could not stop watching. My sister loved to catch them and put them in a jar, but I just loved to see them flash. Not in our backyard, but at some locations lightning bugs flash in synchony. On! Off! On! Off! Just imagine how cool that would look.

For today, think of five words starting with I, use them in a fabulous sentence, and post in comments. Visit Alphapedia once, or as often as you can. Welcome either way!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Here's a lovely hotpot for H-day, February 9, my son's birthday 40 years ago in Denver. I assume with Nemo raging around, Denver and many other cities probably would love a hotpot dinner today. Thanks to Creative Commons for the photo, which was a spread for someone's birthday, appropriately enough!

My husband and I enjoyed a hotpot in Qiqiha'ar, China in 2005, where we had felt stranded since the Chinese tourist service had forgotten to meet us and take us to our programmed nature reserve, Zhalong, or even to our hotel. My limited Chinese got a real workout there, near Mongolia, out west and north of Beijing. When they finally realized where we were and what had gone wrong, we got a basket of fruit we were warned not to eat and a quick trip to Zhalong that we enjoyed, although the marsh was afire and reminded us of brush fires in SoCal. And then the guide took us out for a Mongolian hotpot, there, almost in Mongolia itself. We lifted the various items with our chopsticks and dipped them into the boiling soup, then into sauces, then yum. It was delicious, and being coddled at that point was also delicious.

So today, be inspired by the hotpot to choose 5 words starting with H and use them in one sentence you can post in comments. Enjoy! And do cruise through the others' sentences and enjoy the alliteration gone mad.

I’ve been tagged in the Next Big Thing blog tag by Vickey Kall, author of the historical novel, Death Speaker. She blogs at http://www.deathspeaker.com/ . She weaves her knowledge of the ancient Celts and Brittany into the tale of her heroine, Emyn, who participates in many major decisions and battles between the Gauls of Brittany and the Romans, as one who can harvest wisdom from the dead, who speak to her directly of the dire fate awaiting her people. Vickey’s book is available in Kindle format and can be borrowed from Amazon Select.

My own Next Big Thing is a new e-book version my memoir, Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist. It is in preparation for spring release.

Why is it a Next Big Thing?

It’s an inspiring read for any woman facing a challenging career, especially one in which women are greatly outnumbered by men.

And Spiral Ceiling is currently the only available book on the life story of an American woman who made it in science while being married and raising children. Most biographies and memoirs focus just on the science, or mention family aspects only in passing.

Where did the idea come from for Spiral Ceiling?

I taught a frosh seminar at Pomona College on Biographies of Biologists, and the women in the class objected that we only read about women workaholic loners, not any who balanced family and career. When I told them I had done it, they urged me to write about my own life!

What genre does Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling fall Into?

It’s a memoir, covering a good deal of the history of women’s entry into the field of science, especially molecular biology.

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I think Winona Ryder could play the young Laura Livingston and perhaps Meryl Streep the older one (I loved her Julia Childs rendition!) I think Sydney Poitier for Richard Mays and perhaps Harrison Ford for Mike Hoopes. I wouldn’t dare pick for my son and daughter, but Tom Goodwin, who has a cameo, should be Tom Hanks.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling, Hoopes traces her development as a woman biologist, how she fell in love with DNA but encountered discouraging signals from men in science, how she married and balanced both family and career, and why she's glad not to be a Harvard professor.

Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published. It was almost published by Yale University Press, but they backed out after telling me I was “in the queue” for three years.

All women who want to know what they’ll face if they go into a field where career-family balance is a challenge, as well as those who made another choice and wonder what might have happened if they’d stayed in science. I want to show women, especially young women, that “having it all” can be done, and that I found it valuable to construct a life of balance. So often, they are told they must choose family or science research.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Everyone’s life encounters the unexpected. In my case, I didn’t expect to marry an African American man, but then when we’d created a good life, I didn’t expect him to die suddenly of a heart attack when still relatively young. I didn’t expect my interactions with the government’s science research establishment to go the way they did, nor did I realize how rewarding teaching would be. I didn’t expect my son’s teachers to be racists. I didn’t expect my daughter’s baby sitters to fail me when she was sick. I didn’t expect to be involved in establishing the biology section of Council on Undergraduate Research. So surprises in both directions made life a continual challenge, thrill, and reward.

Here are seven authors I’ve tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing:

Barbara Abercrombie, award-winning professor at UCLA Extension’s creative writing program, author of both fiction and nonfiction books, has recently released A Year of Writing Dangerously and has more books in her pipeline. She blogs at http://www.barbaraabercrombie.com/.

Gayle Brandeis, author of four novels, most recently The Book of Dead Birds. Gayle is a professor in the MFA program of Antioch in Los Angeles. She won the Bellwether Prize for her first novel, Book of Dead Birds. Gayle blogs at http://www.gaylebrandeis.com/ .

Bill Wallace is the author of a wonderful literary memoir, Ghosts of Gordon Street, a haunting story from post-WWII era propelled by a childhood memory that wouldn't die. Walking the sidewalk up to Lincoln, passing ghost houses, "Don't remember Gordon Street without him, funny, at the time didn't think I'd remember him at all . . . I grew up and moved away, but the boy in me stayed . . ." Bill blogs at www.catalinakid.com

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Today's alliteration challenge on alphabetaphilia is G: five words that start with G, used in one sentence. Feel free to join in just today, or work backwards and forwards as much as your time permits. Drop ins welcome! This exercise is one that can decrease your inhibitions in writing and increase your experience with wild and wacky words.

I always dread day 7 of Alphabetaphilia because it's hard to say we want your five f-words without being mis-understood and giving rise to snide snickers and lurid lears. But it must be done. Give me five f-words that are fit for family entertainment and use them in a sentence and let's get it over with. I'm posting the flowers from Provincetown again this year because it's one of my favorite photos, reminding me of walking down the beach to the workshop on Memoir at Norman Mailer Writers Colony.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I love this picture of multicolored eggs from the farm of Rob and Diane Stockhouse in Cathlamet, WA, on an island in the Columbia River. They have a farmers' market that rocks and if you love vegetables, be sure to check out their recipes online or buy Diane's beautifully illustrated cookbook. Eggs are not just things of beauty and omelet precursors, but they are also starters, the beginning of a life if conditions are right.

You don't have to use egg in your list of five words, of course. You can choose any five E words and use them in one amazing sentence, then post in comments. Do it. You'll enjoy it.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

My daughter, Heather, had fun with a notebook picturing a yoga dog last summer, so I decided to use a picture of that in her honor today. What's a yoga dog? Well, have you ever tried the Downward Dog exercise? Hmm. Enjoy finding five words staring with D and using them in a sentence.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

It's the third day of Alphabetaphilia. I'm hoping interest will pick up and we'll get more comments as we go on. If you come by, you can either do five c-words and a sentence using them just today, or you pick and choose among former letters, or even decide to do as much of the month as you can manage. It's easy and fun, especially if you let yourself write a wild sentence, saying something you wouldn't normally write.

So, today, here's our stimulation photo prompt: corn. In the film "Food, Inc," I saw that corn and soybeans are our biggest crops, and it's hard to find any food without some corn derivative as an ingredient. Of course, corn alcohol is also a car fuel these days. So, although I think of the warm, sweet crunch of the first corn roast of the summer, dipped in butter and salted, you can think of lots of other associations if you want. Actually, there's no need to use corn unless you want to. Just find 5 words staring with C, use them in a sentence, post in comments. There will be a slight delay due to moderation of comments.

Friday, February 1, 2013

On day 2 of Alphabetaphilia, here are some cute bunnies to celebrate the letter B. To join in, find five words starting with b and use them in a sentence, then post in Comments. Since they're moderated, it will be an hour or so until you'll see the post go up.

Last year's Alphabetaphilia chapbook is here. We're working on getting a more permanent link on the blog header or sidebar.

Aardarks can eat amazing quantities of ants, and are vital to ecosystems where they occur. For today, Feb 1, 2013, it can inspire us to think of 5 words beginning with "a" and use all five in one sentence. Please post in comments. See the Alphabetaphilia posting for more details.

Welcome

Welcome to Laura L Mays Hoopes’ literary blog. I interview authors about their new books, comment on writing, comment on reading, discuss literature in general, and blog about the natural world. Please join the conversation.